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Cocktail Piano 101

Brett Ziegler  /  Styles  /  UPDATED Jan 16, 2023

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Cocktail piano is smooth, relaxing, and an awesome opportunity to get creative. If you’ve ever wanted to walk up to an airport piano and make it sing, this is the lesson for you!

In this lesson, pianist Brett Ziegler will teach you the basics of cocktail piano. He’ll run over the ingredients you’ll need to improvise a cocktail piece of your own, and break down how these pieces fit together. Brett has been teaching piano and saxophone for 23 years.

<<Download Free Sheet Music & Resources Here>>

🍸 Cocktail Piano Ingredients


1. Chord Progression

First, let’s take a look at the chords we’ll use:

Cocktail piano sheet music - chords in bass clef: C6, Am7, Dm7, G7.

Play these chords on their own a few times to get to know their shapes.

The Turnaround

Once you’re familiar with these chord shapes, try playing them in this rhythm. Play the lowest note of each chord first and follow that up with the other notes. The lowest note will form something like a walking bass.

Chords in cocktail piano piece sheet music with half note-quarter note rhythm.

More About the Chords

If you like music theory, here’s a breakdown of each chord.

C6 (I6)

C6 = C Major Triad + Major 6th

We’re in the key of C Major, and the C6 chord is built on the first note of the C Major scale. Therefore, we can also call it a I (“one”) chord.

Adding a “6” to “C6” just means we take a standard C Major chord (C-E-G) and add a Major 6th on top. We add an A because the interval between C and A is a Major 6th, creating the chord C-E-G-A.

Am7 (vi7)

Am7 = A Minor Triad + Minor 7th

The Am7 chord is built on the sixth note of the C Major scale, so we can also call it vi7. We use lowercase letters to represent minor chords and uppercase letters to represent major chords.

To create an Am7 chord, we take a standard A Minor triad (A-C-E) and add a Minor 7th on top. Since the interval between A and G is a Minor 7th, the chord we’ll build is A-C-E-G.

Dm7 (ii7)

Dm7 = D Minor Triad + Minor 7th

The Dm7 chord is created by taking a standard Dm chord (D-F-A) and adding a Minor 7th (C). This gives us D-F-A-C. D is the second note of the C Major scale and is a minor chord, so the other name for it is ii7.

G7 (V7)

G7 = G Major Triad + Minor 7th

Build a G7 chord by taking a standard G Major chord (G-B-D) and adding a Minor 7th (F).

2. C Major Blues Scale

Now let’s add something to the right hand! We’ll be riffing off the blues scale, which is based on the C Major pentatonic scale:

1-2-3-5-6
C-D-E-G-A

We’ll take this scale and flatten the third scale degree (E), and then un-flatten it. This creates the signature blues-y sound. The flat third is our “blue note.”

1-2-b3-3-5-6
C-D-Eb-E-G-A

In standard notation, this is what we’ll be playing, up and down. Note: the numbers on the bottom are scale degrees, not fingering!

C Major blues scale on staff: scale degrees 1-2-b3-3-5-6 up and down, with mark-up.

As for fingering, in the video, Brett uses 1-2-3-1-2-3-5 for C-D-Eb-E-G-A-C. Use whatever feels comfortable to you, and practice the scale up and down several times.

Know this scale like the back of your hand! We’ll be riffing off it and mixing it up.

3. Swing Rhythm

Now, let’s add a little character to our blues scale. The rhythm I use in the video is called a swing rhythm. A swing rhythm is when you play music in a rhythm that is slightly “off.” While it can be notated with our tempo marking here, the best way to get a feel for swing is to listen to it and to try playing it yourself.

Another way to swing is to use a triplets. Again, rewind the video a few times to get a feel for the beat.

4. Ending Your Cocktail Piano Mix

Now we need an ending to round off your cocktail piece. The ending Brett uses is called the Basie ending and it was named after William James “Count” Basie, an influential jazz pianist. It’s the most popular cocktail piano ending so it’s a handy tool to keep in your back pocket.

William James “Count” Basie in 1955.

You may notice that these chords are built on the C6 chord we began with. It also uses our flat 3 bass note.

For extra flair, Brett adds an extra bass note at the end to round off the song.

5. Make Your Cocktail Piano Mix Unique!

Now that you have your cocktail ingredients, go find a piano lounge and create your own mix! Break up the blues scale so it’s not just going up and down. Vary the rhythm, add swing, and experiment with repeats. If you want to dig deeper into beginner improvisation, check out our Riffs and Fills resource.

One easy way to start improvising is to just play around with all the notes that sit under your hand. You don’t need a lot of notes to start mixing and matching riffs.

Explore this recipe on your own, and when you’re ready, take it to the cocktail lounge!


Charmaine Li is a Vancouver writer who has played piano for over 20 years. She holds an Associate diploma (ARCT) from the Royal Conservatory of Music and loves writing about the ways in which music—and music learning—affects the human experience. Charmaine manages The Note. Learn more about Charmaine here.

Headshot of woman with short platinum hair against a studio background.

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